Delgadillo on marijuana, gangs, his past

California Attorney General candidate Rocky Delgadillo stopped by the Chronicle’s editorial board Friday, where he rapped about his record as Los Angeles City Attorney and was pressed on a list of issues, including the death penalty, marijuana and his past.

Delgadillo spent much of his hour at the Chron touting his campaign as city attorney against gangs. He credited injunctions and lawsuits brought at the time against gang leaders for bringing crime and arrests down and rattled off story after story about his experiences trying to rid low income neighborhoods of crime.

“Gangs in L.A. are the muscles for drug cartels — they supply the chain,” he said. “They’re the new mafia.”

But like all of the Democratic AG hopefuls, Delgadillo was also quick to list consumer protections as one of his other priorities. (“I’m prepared to take on predators in the state of California whether they’re wearing gang colors or a Brooks Brothers suit,” he quipped.)

Other issues: He’s for environmental protections, and against the rollback of AB32. He’d like to go after the “underground economy,” and is for the death penalty in some circumstances. He likes some of the ideas behind legalizing marijuana (the extra cash for California, and cutting drug cartels’ funding supplies) but said they may not pan out, and that the issue “should not be debated on 30 second television ads.” He thinks medical marijuana should be dispensed through pharmacies, and said the three strikes law should be evaluated for its effectiveness. And he said he supports sanctuary cities as long as convicted criminals can be deported (not those who have only been arrested).